The Tambora Volcano

When one hears the word volcano, the first words that will come to mind are the worst experience that they have experienced or heard about a volcano or which volcano is the most beautiful. Whatever history or known knowledge that a person has about a certain volcano, it is unquestionable that they are one of the most remarkable natural creations of this world.

Whenever people go on vacations, famous volcanoes are one of the must-see wonders that holiday destinations, which have well-known volcanoes in their location, offer to its visitors. The more infamous it's history is, the more it is a must-see to both local and international tourists.

One of the world renowned volcanoes that travelers should visit is the Tambora Volcano located in the Sumbawa Island in Indonesia. The Tambora Volcano is well-known in the world because it has the distinction of producing the biggest volatile volcanic eruption that has been recorded in history in the year 1815. Before that fateful eruption in 1815, the Tambora Volcano had stood inactive for about 5,000 years.

History

Tambora Volcano came to be due to great forces that produce immense movements and deformations on the crust of the Earth. Accordingly, Indonesia is situated where the Indian Ocean is being strained or enforced beneath the Asian Plate which leads to the rising of magma via weak surfaces of the earth.

The subduction zone is what they call the plate boundary that leans towards rising stratovolcanoes such as the Tambora Volcano. As time goes by, there is a build up on those rising magma resulting in the formation of thick layers of lava as well as other volcanic materials. That is why volcanoes like Tambora are characterized by the traditional cone shape and volatile volcanic explosions.

The Tambora Volcano, as mentioned above, has been inactive for about 5, 000 years. However in 1812, it started to release ash and steam together with small earth tremors. Then, three years later on April 5, Tambora produced a relatively large explosion that was heard from about 1,400 km away.

Five days later on April 10, 1815, the Tambora volcano released what is still the largest recorded volcanic eruption in history. It was recorded that a column of volcanic materials went up 28 miles into the sky before it fell as a succession of lethal pyroclastic flows. The ash that was produced from the gigantic eruption fell over 800 miles from the volcano.

The Tambora Volcano Today

Today, the Tambora Volcano is dormant again, with the last recorded eruption in 1967 but still as inactive volcanoes go, it can still erupt at anytime in the future. It stands about 9, 350 feet tall, covering the entire Sanggar Peninsula.